LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sustainability projects developed by students at Los Angeles Trade
Technical College, the University of California, Irvine and California
State University, Los Angeles captured the top recognition in
Metropolitan Water District’s first ECO Innovators Showcase competition.

The competition was part of Metropolitan’s 6th annual Spring
Green Expo, an educational event featuring more than 65 exhibits by
college students, businesses and public agencies at Metropolitan’s
downtown Los Angeles headquarters building last Thursday, May 16. The
contest attracted projects from 17 universities and community colleges
throughout Southern California in three categories—water conservation,
energy conservation and green transportation.

“Metropolitan is proud to have the opportunity to showcase the hard work
and creativity of these university and college students,” said General
Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger. “We recognize that today’s students are
tomorrow’s leaders and enjoy being a part of their early success.”

A 12-member team of LA Trade Tech students took home the ECO Innovator’s
water conservation award for their small-scale building prototype aimed
at demonstrating the viability of developing a residential or commercial
structure using the latest water-saving, food-producing and renewable
energy-using solutions.

Doctoral candidate Beth Karlin and student Cassandra Squiers of UC
Irvine claimed the competition’s energy conservation award for their
project, which examined the potential to harness data being collected
through the burgeoning smart grid. Such data can provide consumers with
information about their own energy consumption to better understand and
control their energy use by making it more visible and establishing a
nexus between actions and impacts.

The ECO Innovators green transportation award was presented to a
four-member student team from Cal State Los Angeles for their hydrogen
fuel cell vehicle project, which included an on-campus refueling station
design. The school team included students Michael Strada, Marc Aguilar,
Hector Nava and Jose Padilla, with Dr. David Blekhman, professor of the
school’s Technology, Power Energy and Transportation Program, serving as
advisor.

With a top speed of 25 miles per hour and a range of 65 miles, the
team-built vehicle—the Hydrogen Super Eagle—has competed in the Shell
2011 Eco Car Challenge in Houston and has been on display at the Long
Beach Grand Prix, the Los Angeles Auto Show and the Santa Monica
Alternative Car Expo. The vehicle is currently being used for a research
project on renewable fuels.

In addition to the school teams earning the top awards, other
universities and colleges participating in the ECO Innovators Showcase
competition included California State Polytechnic University, Pomona;
California State University, Long Beach; California State University,
Northridge; Chapman University; Fullerton College; Loma Linda
University, School of Public Health; the New School of Architecture +
Design; Otis College of Art and Design; Pasadena City College;
University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Santa
Barbara; University of California, Riverside; University of Southern
California (two teams); and Woodbury University

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a
cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving nearly 19 million
people in six counties.The district imports water from
the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies,
and helps its members to develop increased water conservation,
recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.